On December 20, 2011, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced his approval of the 300-megawatt (MW) Sonoran Solar Energy Project to be built on BLM land in Maricopa County, Arizona.

The land is southwest of Phoenix in the Little Rainbow Valley, east of State Route 85, and south of the Town of Buckeye in Maricopa County.

Approval of the right of way means that Boulevard Associates, LLC, can use 2,013 acres of BLM land to install photovoltaic (PV) mirrors and ancillary structures and transmission lines. The right of way is for 30 years. Boulevard Associates is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC.